Reuse of design objects in CAD frameworks
Joachim Altmeyer, S. Ohnsorge, B. Schiirmann · 1994
The reuse of well-tested and optimized design objects allows decreasing design times, increasing design quality, and improving the predictability of designs. Reuse reaches from the selecting cells from a library up to adapting already designed objects. In this paper, we present a new model for the reuse of design objects in CAD frameworks. Based on experiences in other disciplines, mainly in software engineering and case-based reasoning, we developed a feature-based model to describe design objects and their similarities. Our model considers generic modules as well as multi-functional units. We discuss the relationships of the model to the design process and to the configuration hierarchy of complex design objects. With the prototype system RODEO, we examined our model and demonstrated the integration in a common ECAD framework. 1. Introduction The complexity of designs increases rapidly. On the other hand, the design times must be reduced to resist the growing pressure of competition...